IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jomega/v103y2021ics030504832100058x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Brand-owners’ vertical and horizontal alliance strategies facing dominant retailers: Effect of demand substitutability and complementarity

Author

Listed:
  • Zhuo, Xiaopo
  • Wang, Fan
  • Niu, Baozhuang

Abstract

Facing dominant retailers, brand-owners are witnessed to increasingly ally with the dominant retailers or other brand-owners. To study brand-owners’ alliance strategies, we consider a bilateral duopoly setting comprising two brand-owners and two dominant retailers. The brand-owners’ alliance strategies result in three typical structures: (1) a flexible structure, where each brand-owner sells products via any retailer; (2) a vertical structure, where a brand-owner sells product exclusively via an allied retailer; and (3) a horizontal structure, where the two brand-owners form an alliance by cross-shareholding. In each structure, bilateral contract negotiations between brand-owners and retailers are conducted, with consideration of demand substitutability and complementarity. We identify vertical alliance effect and horizontal alliance effect, which both lead to a more monopolistic wholesaling market in different ways. In the vertical structure, a win-win situation exists when demand is substitutable, while the incentives for the brand-owners and retailers on forming a vertical alliance are conflicting when demand is complementary. In the horizontal structure, a win-win region exists with respect to the revenue-sharing ratio for the brand-owners to form a horizontal alliance when demand is substitutable. In contrast, given complementary demand, their incentives to form a horizontal alliance become weak.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhuo, Xiaopo & Wang, Fan & Niu, Baozhuang, 2021. "Brand-owners’ vertical and horizontal alliance strategies facing dominant retailers: Effect of demand substitutability and complementarity," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:103:y:2021:i:c:s030504832100058x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.omega.2021.102449
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030504832100058X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.omega.2021.102449?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michaela Draganska & Daniel Klapper & Sofia B. Villas-Boas, 2010. "A Larger Slice or a Larger Pie? An Empirical Investigation of Bargaining Power in the Distribution Channel," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 57-74, 01-02.
    2. Anthony Dukes & Tansev Geylani & Yunchuan Liu, 2014. "Dominant retailers’ incentives for product quality in asymmetric distribution channels," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 93-107, March.
    3. Xing Hu & René Caldentey & Gustavo Vulcano, 2013. "Revenue Sharing in Airline Alliances," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1177-1195, May.
    4. Karray, Salma & Sigué, Simon Pierre, 2015. "A game-theoretic model for co-promotions: Choosing a complementary versus an independent product ally," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 84-100.
    5. Zhang, Peng & He, Yong & Shi, Chunming (Victor), 2017. "Retailer's channel structure choice: Online channel, offline channel, or dual channels?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 37-50.
    6. Amrouche, Nawel & Yan, Ruiliang, 2013. "Can a weak retailer benefit from manufacturer-dominant retailer alliance?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 34-42.
    7. Timothy W. McGuire & Richard Staelin, 1983. "An Industry Equilibrium Analysis of Downstream Vertical Integration," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(2), pages 161-191.
    8. Davidson, Carl, 1988. "Multiunit Bargaining in Oligopolistic Industries," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(3), pages 397-422, July.
    9. Chen, Jing & Zhang, Hui & Sun, Ying, 2012. "Implementing coordination contracts in a manufacturer Stackelberg dual-channel supply chain," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 571-583.
    10. Milliou, Chrysovalantou & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2007. "Upstream horizontal mergers, vertical contracts, and bargaining," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 963-987, October.
    11. Chakraborty, Abhishek & Mandal, Prasenjit, 2021. "Channel efficiency and retailer tier dominance in a supply chain with a common manufacturer," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 294(1), pages 100-121.
    12. Gangshu (George) Cai & Yue Dai & Sean X. Zhou, 2012. "Exclusive Channels and Revenue Sharing in a Complementary Goods Market," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 172-187, January.
    13. Henrick Horn & Asher Wolinsky, 1988. "Bilateral Monopolies and Incentives for Merger," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(3), pages 408-419, Autumn.
    14. Mahesh Nagarajan & Yehuda Bassok, 2008. "A Bargaining Framework in Supply Chains: The Assembly Problem," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(8), pages 1482-1496, August.
    15. Catherine C. de Fontenay & Joshua S. Gans, 2005. "Vertical Integration in the Presence of Upstream Competition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(3), pages 544-572, Autumn.
    16. Jacques Cremer & Michael H. Riordan, 1987. "On Governing Multilateral Transactions with Bilateral Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(3), pages 436-451, Autumn.
    17. Hau-Ling Chan & Bin Shen & Yajun Cai, 2018. "Quick response strategy with cleaner technology in a supply chain: coordination and win-win situation analysis," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(10), pages 3397-3408, May.
    18. Wang, Jian-Cai & Lau, Hon-Shiang & Lau, Amy Hing Ling, 2009. "When should a manufacturer share truthful manufacturing cost information with a dominant retailer?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(1), pages 266-286, August.
    19. Li, Jianbin & Luo, Xiaomeng & Wang, Qifei & Zhou, Weihua, 2021. "Supply chain coordination through capacity reservation contract and quantity flexibility contract," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    20. Zhou, Yong-Wu & Cao, Zong-Hong & Zhong, Yuanguang, 2015. "Pricing and alliance selection for a dominant retailer with an upstream entry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 243(1), pages 211-223.
    21. Inderst, Roman & Wey, Christian, 2007. "Buyer power and supplier incentives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 647-667, April.
    22. Chen, Kebing & Xiao, Tiaojun, 2009. "Demand disruption and coordination of the supply chain with a dominant retailer," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(1), pages 225-234, August.
    23. Zissis, Dimitris & Ioannou, George & Burnetas, Apostolos, 2015. "Supply chain coordination under discrete information asymmetries and quantity discounts," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 21-29.
    24. Chen, Wenbo, 2018. "Retailer-driven carbon emission abatement with consumer environmental awareness and carbon tax: Revenue-sharing versus Cost-sharingAuthor-Name: Yang, Huixiao," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 179-191.
    25. LIN, Feng & QIN, Xibei & PU, Xujin & ZHU, Weiwei & ZHUO, Xingxuan, 2021. "Effects of in-house production on channel structures in a co-opetitive supply chain under supply uncertainty," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    26. Tiaojun Xiao & Jia Luo & Jiao Jin, 2009. "Coordination of a Supply Chain with Demand Stimulation and Random Demand Disruption," International Journal of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management (IJISSCM), IGI Global, vol. 2(1), pages 1-15, January.
    27. Wei-yu Kevin Chiang & Dilip Chhajed & James D. Hess, 2003. "Direct Marketing, Indirect Profits: A Strategic Analysis of Dual-Channel Supply-Chain Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(1), pages 1-20, January.
    28. Xue, Weili & Caliskan Demirag, Ozgun & Niu, Baozhuang, 2014. "Supply chain performance and consumer surplus under alternative structures of channel dominance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 239(1), pages 130-145.
    29. Hua, Zhongsheng & Li, Sijie, 2008. "Impacts of demand uncertainty on retailer's dominance and manufacturer-retailer supply chain cooperation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 697-714, October.
    30. Wang, Cuixia & Leng, Mingming & Liang, Liping, 2018. "Choosing an online retail channel for a manufacturer: Direct sales or consignment?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 338-358.
    31. Jagmohan Raju & Z. John Zhang, 2005. "Channel Coordination in the Presence of a Dominant Retailer," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 254-262, February.
    32. Wang, Jian-Cai & Lau, Amy Hing-Ling & Lau, Hon-Shiang, 2013. "Dollar vs. percentage markup pricing schemes under a dominant retailer," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 227(3), pages 471-482.
    33. He, Peng & He, Yong & Xu, Henry, 2019. "Channel structure and pricing in a dual-channel closed-loop supply chain with government subsidy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 108-123.
    34. Chen, Pingping & Zhao, Ruiqing & Yan, Yingchen & Li, Xiang, 2020. "Promotional pricing and online business model choice in the presence of retail competition," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    35. Vernon N. Hsu & Guoming Lai & Baozhuang Niu & Wenqiang Xiao, 2017. "Leader-Based Collective Bargaining: Cooperation Mechanism and Incentive Analysis," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 72-83, February.
    36. Yao-Yu Wang & Jiasen Sun & Jian-Cai Wang, 2016. "Equilibrium markup pricing strategies for the dominant retailers under supply chain to chain competition," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(7), pages 2075-2092, April.
    37. Li, Wei & Chen, Jing, 2018. "Backward integration strategy in a retailer Stackelberg supply chain," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 118-130.
    38. Pan, Kewen & Lai, K.K. & Liang, L. & Leung, Stephen C.H., 2009. "Two-period pricing and ordering policy for the dominant retailer in a two-echelon supply chain with demand uncertainty," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 919-929, August.
    39. Vernon N. Hsu & Guoming Lai & Baozhuang Niu & Wenqiang Xiao, 2017. "Leader-Based Collective Bargaining: Cooperation Mechanism and Incentive Analysis," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 72-83, February.
    40. Heese, H. Sebastian, 2015. "Single versus multiple sourcing and the evolution of bargaining positions," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 125-133.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bai, Qingguo & Chen, Jiguang & Xu, Jianteng, 2023. "Energy conservation investment and supply chain structure under cap-and-trade regulation for a green product," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    2. Chongping Chen & Xiaopo Zhuo & Yanshan Li, 2022. "Online channel introduction under contract negotiation: Reselling versus agency selling," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 146-158, January.
    3. Yan, Nina & Liu, Yang & Chen, Jing, 2022. "Competitors or frenemies? Strategic investment between competing channels," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    4. Niu, Baozhuang & Xie, Fengfeng & Chen, Lei, 2024. "Analysis of global brands’ green procurement strategy: Co-opetitive local sourcing vs. overseas sourcing under delivery disruption," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    5. Wang, Tong-Yuan & Chen, Zhen-Song & He, Peng & Govindan, Kannan & Skibniewski, Miroslaw J., 2023. "Alliance strategy in an online retailing supply chain: Motivation, choice, and equilibrium," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    6. Li, Ran & Yan, Jin-Jiang & Wang, Xian-Yu, 2024. "Horizontal cooperation strategies for competing manufacturers in a capital constrained supply chain," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    7. Chen, Pingping & Chen, Huiru & Zhao, Ruiqing, 2022. "Price promotions in vertically-related market: Instant discount vs. gift card," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    8. Minghua Xiong & Xiaopo Zhuo, 2023. "Brand-Owners’ Exclusive Channel Strategies in Multitier Supply Chains: Effect of Contract Unobservability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-23, April.
    9. Niu, Baozhuang & Yu, Xinhu & Li, Qiyang & Wang, Yulan, 2023. "Gains and Losses of Key Opinion Leaders’ Product Promotion in Livestream E-commerce," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chongping Chen & Xiaopo Zhuo & Yanshan Li, 2022. "Online channel introduction under contract negotiation: Reselling versus agency selling," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 146-158, January.
    2. Alibeiki, Hedayat & Li, Shanling & Vaidyanathan, Ramnath, 2020. "Market dominance or product cost advantage: Retail power impacts on assortment decisions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    3. Lee, Eunji & Minner, Stefan, 2024. "How power structure and markup schemes impact supply chain channel efficiency under price-dependent stochastic demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 318(1), pages 297-309.
    4. Lei Yang & Meng Chen & Yiji Cai & Sang-Bing Tsai, 2018. "Manufacturer’s Decision as Consumers’ Low-Carbon Preference Grows," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-26, April.
    5. Syed Asif Raza, 2022. "A bibliometric analysis of pricing models in supply chain," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(2), pages 228-251, April.
    6. Qi Feng & Lauren Xiaoyuan Lu, 2012. "The Strategic Perils of Low Cost Outsourcing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(6), pages 1196-1210, June.
    7. Chakraborty, Abhishek & Mandal, Prasenjit, 2021. "Channel efficiency and retailer tier dominance in a supply chain with a common manufacturer," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 294(1), pages 100-121.
    8. Sun, Shuxing & Zhang, Bin, 2022. "Operation strategies for nanostore in community group buying," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    9. Li, Wei & Chen, Jing, 2018. "Backward integration strategy in a retailer Stackelberg supply chain," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 118-130.
    10. Minghua Xiong & Xiaopo Zhuo, 2023. "Brand-Owners’ Exclusive Channel Strategies in Multitier Supply Chains: Effect of Contract Unobservability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-23, April.
    11. Chen, Wenbo, 2018. "Retailer-driven carbon emission abatement with consumer environmental awareness and carbon tax: Revenue-sharing versus Cost-sharingAuthor-Name: Yang, Huixiao," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 179-191.
    12. Michael Polemis & Konstantinos Eleftheriou, 2018. "To Regulate Or To Deregulate? The Role Of Downstream Competition In Upstream Monopoly Vertically Linked Markets," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 51-63, January.
    13. Symeonidis, George, 2010. "Downstream merger and welfare in a bilateral oligopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 230-243, May.
    14. Chen, Xu & He, Jinzhe & Wang, Xiaojun, 2024. "Effects of product substitutability and power relationships on performance in triadic supply chains," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    15. LI, Li, 2019. "Cooperative purchasing and preactive inventory sharing – Channel balancing and performance improvement," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(3), pages 738-751.
    16. Matsui, Kenji, 2022. "Should a retailer bargain over a wholesale price with a manufacturer using a dual-channel supply chain?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 300(3), pages 1050-1066.
    17. Lou, Yaqi & Feng, Lipan & He, Shuguang & He, Zhen & Zhao, Xiukun, 2020. "Logistics service outsourcing choices in a retailer-led supply chain," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    18. Yang, Huixiao & Luo, Jianwen & Zhang, Qinhong, 2018. "Supplier encroachment under nonlinear pricing with imperfect substitutes: Bargaining power versus revenue-sharing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(3), pages 1089-1101.
    19. Qi Feng & Yuanchen Li & J. George Shanthikumar, 2022. "Negotiations in Competing Supply Chains: The Kalai-Smorodinsky Bargaining Solution," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(8), pages 5868-5890, August.
    20. Yulan Wang & Baozhuang Niu & Pengfei Guo & Jing-Sheng Song, 2021. "Direct Sourcing or Agent Sourcing? Contract Negotiation in Procurement Outsourcing," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 294-310, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:103:y:2021:i:c:s030504832100058x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/375/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.